


In The Cards

by WaywardGranger



Category: Bucky Barnes - Fandom, Captain America, Marvel, Winter Soldier - Fandom, standom
Genre: Bucky Barnes - Freeform, CACW, Civil War, Fanfic, OC, Sebastian Stan - Freeform, Standom - Freeform, chris evans - Freeform, winter soldier - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 09:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10273874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaywardGranger/pseuds/WaywardGranger
Summary: One Runaway. One mistake. One chance at redemption.Years after Blaire escapes HYDRA's clutches, she stumbles upon another victim like herself: Bucky Barnes. She makes it her personal mission to help him find peace, something she hasn't been able to do for herself. And, when an unexpected occurrence sends them both hurtling into hiding, they learn things about themselves they wouldn't have without each other.As she attempts to change an impossible world, with the belief that everything that happens is fate, those in power have different plans. Soon enough, she finds herself in the midst of a civil war.





	1. Ruined

It's funny how fast a girl's life could go from living in a luxurious, million-dollar mansion, to living in the basement of an abandoned building. I had that thought every day, ever since I escaped HYDRA's clutches two years ago. But, the thought that usually followed was: maybe it was meant to happen this way. Maybe, just maybe, something better awaited me in the rugged streets of Romania than in the glamorous cities of America.

I held on to that thought, hoping it wasn't another one of my unbecoming fantasies, as I roamed my home - my street - searching for food, or anyone kind enough to offer a few morsels for a piece of scrap metal.

Two little girls ran past me, hysterically laughing, running away from the third, who collided with me, flinging my plastic bag with all my belongings out of my hands.

"îmi pare rău," I said, helping her get up. She continued to laugh as I did so, stopping only to smile at me before running away to re-join her friends. I watched her go, thinking about how carefree she was, how innocent she was. And, as she stopped to pet a dog that blocked her way, I smiled, knowing that there may be terrible, terrible people in this world, but there were those enjoyed the little things. Those who smiled at strangers, and smiled at the obstacles in their way, taking a bad moment and turning it upside down with their love and kindness.

I bent down to collect all that had fallen out of my bag: a plastic comb, an extra shirt that I found lying around on the ground, yesterday, my piece of scrap metal, and my blue notebook. I stuffed everything back in, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

Then, I got up and began my daily hunt for food, turning an endless amount of corners, passing an infinite amount of shops. It was like this every day. The streets were bustling with people, all with something to do and somewhere to go. Then, there was me. My only goal: survive.

I ended up at a shop I hadn't yet been to, and emptied my plastic bag on the counter. My bargaining skills weren't exactly what you would call 'polished' and neither was my Romanian, but I got better every day. "Buna," I said, smiling at the shopkeeper.

"Get out." he said, abruptly, staring at the items on the table with disgust. I knew better than to argue with an angsty shopkeeper, so I began packing up my stuff again, thinking, oh yeah, I'm great, thanks for asking. Hope you have a great day, as well.

The shopkeeper snatched my notebook from the pile, which wasn't supposed to be there, and opened it before I could stop him.

Pictures flew out of it and fell to the ground. The shopkeeper gasped.

I crouched down and hastily gathered all the pictures back up, but the angsty dude was holding one in his hand, his mouth agape.

"Who are you?" he asked me, staring at the abundance of pictures in my hands, and back to the one in his.

"Nobody," I replied, snatching the picture and notebook from his hands and making a run for it. 

"Stop her!" he yelled, and the crowd of people around us turned to me.

I kept running, ending up with ten men on my trail within two minutes. I felt the blood rush to my head, and my legs shake. Running wasn't a very good idea if you'd been starving for week.

I turned a corner and lost sight of the ten dudes chasing me, and took advantage of that moment. Because I had no other choice, I laid against a wall, slowed my breathing, and willed myself to disappear, literally.

I looked down at myself as my body tingled, then fazed away from view. The notebook and pictures in my hands did the same.

The men ran right up to the corner where I was standing, and looked straight through me. Then, they ran the other way.

I willed myself to faze back to view, and sat down. My breathing quickened, again, and my hands shook. A trickle of blood ran down my nose, but I wiped it away with my sleeve. The longer I stayed invisible, the more blood I lost. But, in situations like this, it was necessary.

The pictures in my hands were bent in places, but not ripped, so I pressed them between the pages of my notebook, except for one - the one the shopkeeper-turns-lunatic saw.

I stared at the face on the picture: his eyes, dancing with a striking blue even in the dim light of the photograph, his long, dark brown hair, that seemed to flow like liquid, and the scowl on his face, which I knew wouldn't have been there if it weren't for HYDRA.

I turned the picture around and read my handwriting: Bucky Barnes.

The dudes ruined my moment by running back to where I was hiding, forcing me to go invisible again.

I shifted to the left as silently as possible, while maintaining invisibility.

"Call them in," one of the men said, breathing heavily. "Tell them we have eyes on him, and will shoot with a clear shot, but don't mention the girl."

"Yes, sir." chanted the rest of the men, and they all leaned in towards each other and whispered, "Hail HYDRA."

My breath caught in my throat. What did I get myself into? And who else did I drag in with me? I had finally gotten free of HYDRA, and the thought of going back terrified me. And now I'd be responsible for sending someone else in, as well. I couldn't let that happen, so I got up, put Bucky's picture and the notebook in the pocket of my jacket, and ran back to the shop where I caused all this ruckus.

The atmosphere was still peaceful there, civilians shopping, and children playing. The shopkeeper was gone, though. Probably out to get me death warrant.

I turned in the spot, eyeing my surroundings for anything mildly suspicious, but there was nothing. A group of women were skirt shopping, a couple was walking peacefully through the street, a man was buying plums, some kids were playing cards in the corner, and a few others were unsuccessfully bargaining with shopkeepers. Just your typical day in Romania.

But, then I saw the newsstand, a little boy loading stacks of fresh papers onto the shelves. All of a sudden, the boy ran away, terrified, as the man from the plum stand walked towards it and picked up a paper, the image blurry from my distance.

I slowly walked up beside the man, who was dressed very warm from the weather, and picked up a newspaper, which disappeared at my touch, so I urgently set it down as not to raise suspicion. Instead, I looked over the man's shoulder.

I didn't see what it said on the newspaper, because all that caught my attention was the thin strip of silver visible under the glove holding it.

Slowly, eyes wide, I tilted my head so I could see the face under the cap he was wearing. I was struck dumb for a second, unable to fathom the person in front of me - the person I'd been looking for, forever.

I freaked out a little when his eyes looked right into mine, but I remembered he couldn't see me, and I was able to breathe, again. Looking closer, I noticed he had dark circles around his eyes, and that they were set deeper than they were in my picture. It made sense, though. He'd been on the run just as long as I'd been, but his situation was a million times worse.

His eyes frantically searched around for something - or someone I realized, and clapped my hand to my mouth.

The HYDRA agents in the alley, they found him, and were going to kill him. I made this happen. If I wasn't stupid, I wouldn't have kept my notebook on the shopkeeper's counter, and he wouldn't have seen it, or called in reinforcements, or found Bucky.

Slowly, he set the paper down, and pulled his cap so it covered his eyes. I moved aside, so I wouldn't hit him and cause any more trouble than I already did in the last ten minutes.

Bucky walked away from the stand, cautiously, head down, and gripped his bag of plums tightly in his right hand.

I didn't mean to be a stalker, but I followed him. This was my fault, anyways, and I had to help him get back to safety.

He made his way through the market place, crossed a local bridge, and turned a few corners. As I followed him, I came to realize that the path he was taking, was very familiar. A thin, winding dirt road, lined with decaying flowers, led to a bunch of old apartments. Then, he turned the corner into a small, congested square, passing the little blonde girl who always played in the dirt with her clay dolls. Finally, he took a left, and was walking on my street.

He stopped in front of what was oldest, most worn-out apartment building in Romania, the basement of which was home to me. Even as we stood there, I heard metal creaking underneath the peeling, brown walls. He walked into the building, and all the way up to the highest floor. He stopped in front of an open door, and looked around, then wandered over to the window at the end of the hall, to look for anything suspicious.

I, on the other hand, slowly creeped into his apartment. Part of me was ecstatic to have found Bucky and his apartment, and part of me was cursing myself for not knowing that I'd been neighbours with this man the whole time. But, then again, it made sense I didn't know, given that I rarely left my basement.

To my surprise, it wasn't HYDRA in his apartment, it was freedom.

I sighed in relief, knowing that Captain America would help Bucky find a safer hideout, and had to restrain myself from yelling, "God bless America!"

I walked up to him, and tried not to be distracted by his insane shoulder to waist ratio. Instead, I focused on the notebook in his hand, opened to a page with his picture on it. Tiny notes were scribbled down all around it, like Bucky was desperately trying to remember every single detail of his past that HYDRA took away from him.

Then, I looked up and saw the life Bucky was trying to build for himself. A small, white refrigerator sat beside a counter top, with washed dishes, a coffee machine, and an electric stove. On top of the fridge, were chocolate bars and chips, and a juice jug holding several spatulas. He even had a small table and couch, with a cushion on either side.

I ruined this. I ruined it all for him. This cozy little apartment and life he tried so hard to build, ruined. All because of me.

A creak from behind made us both turn around. Bucky stood in the doorway, staring at the Captain, or as he best knew him, Steve. There was silence as Steve placed the notebook down on the counter.

"Do you remember me?" he asked Bucky.

I held my breath as the silence extended, afraid of them hearing me. To my relief, Bucky replied. 

"You're Steve," he said, then briefly paused, unsure weather or not to continue. "I read about you in a museum."

A voice from Steve's earpiece urgently said, "They've set the perimeter."

I walked back to look out the window, but it was shielded with newspapers.

Steve took a step forward. "I know you're nervous, and you have plenty of reason to be, but you're lying."

What? I almost cried out loud. Did he seriously not believe what his best friend was saying?

"I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore." Bucky replied, almost as if he was asked that question a million times. But, I was confused. What happened in Vienna?

"Well, the people who think you did are coming here now, and they're not planning on taking you alive."

Then it hit me. I remembered overhearing someone talking about a bombing in Vienna, and how it took the life of King T'Chaka. Bucky must've been the suspect. Because, hey, what else would the government do? Just go ahead and blame it on the innocent. Whoop de doo. Case solved.

"That's smart," Bucky said. "Nice strategy."

"This doesn't have to end in a fight, Buck." said Steve, and the voice in his comms warned him that German Special Forces were on the roof.

Bucky walked towards the door. "It always ends in a fight."

"Five seconds!" screamed the voice.

"You pulled me from the river." Steve said. "Why?"

Bucky took off the glove covering his metal hand. "I don't know."

I almost rolled my eyes. These guys could talk later. Right now, we all had to get out, or someone was going to start shooting at us.

"Yes, you do." Steve insisted, but before he could continue, dozens of bullets shot through the fire exit, just missing my face.

"Jinxed it." I said out loud, the sound of bullets piercing the wall keeping Steve and Bucky from hearing me.

It only got worse from there.

A gas bomb flew into the apartment, but Steve covered it with his shield and it exploded underneath. Then, cops began an attempt at breaking the door, and I grabbed the table that was just lying around, and threw it at the door, barricading it.

"What the hell?" Bucky said, staring at the table, perfectly lodged under the door knob.

"Whoops." I whispered, as another round of bullets rained through the window.

Bucky snatched a mattress from the ground, which I assumed was his bed, and used it to slow the bullets that came right at him.

The door busted open despite my barricade, and two dozen cops ran in, and the fighting started.

I stood to a side, watching Steve and Bucky fight off the cops with almost no difficulty. I could've fought the cops just as easily as them, but I didn't. I hated fighting.

"Buck, stop!" exclaimed Steve, as Bucky punched a cop unconscious. "You're going to kill someone."

Bucky took Steve by the neck and flipped him onto the ground, rattling the apartment. Then, he slammed his hand onto the floor beside Steve's head and a floorboard popped up. He aggressively pulled out a backpack, and threw it out the window. "I'm not going to kill anyone." he grumbled.

Well, there's no need for dramatics, Bucky. I thought. You could've just told him that while he was standing up.

Bucky proceeded to slam some guy's head against the wall, repeatedly, and threw a cinder block at another's chest.

Knowing I had no other choice but to fight with them, and help them get out of the mess I created, I internally sighed and cracked my knuckles.

This was going to be a long day. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked the first chapter. I'm so excited to be writing this story, and I hope that everyone enjoys it.
> 
> This story is already available on my Wattpad: @waywardgranger 
> 
> NOTE: The conversation between Steve and Bucky is NOT MINE. It was taken from the movie. All rights for that conversation belong to Marvel.


	2. Streak of Blue

It was a crazy way to begin my day, but I was caught in the middle of it and had no choice but to face the consequences of my careless actions.

Bucky threw his backpack out the window behind him and ran out the door, putting down a couple of men in the process. Steve followed him, obviously.

The fighting led Barnes and Noble into the main stairwell, each of them knocking out a dozen cops within a matter of seconds. I would've followed them, if it weren't for my major nosebleed and the trembling, white bunny staring at me.

It cautiously hopped out of the kitchen cupboard under the sink and made an attempt to cross the room, but gave up as it almost got trampled by several large men. It sat on the ground, whimpering, staring hopelessly out the door, towards the man fighting on the other side.

It took me a second, but I realized the bunny must've been Bucky's. Suppressing a smile, I stepped towards the bunny and made myself visible. It saw me, and didn't take long to understand I wanted to help. I held out my hands and it hopped on, its fluffy fur heaven against my rough hands. I unzipped my jacket and placed it carefully in the inside pocket. Going invisible, again, I zipped up my jacket just to be safe.

Then, I stepped out of the apartment, only to realize that everyone was either gone or lying unconscious on the floor. Except for Steve, who jumped out of a window.

I ran down two flights of stairs, careful not to shake the bunny too hard and rattle its brain.

I looked through the broken window. Bucky was running on the rooftop of the conjoining building, escaping from what seemed like a giant . . . cat?

Whatever it was, it seemed determined to slice Bucky in half.

I stood there watching Cap chase after the thing chasing Bucky, but soon lost sight of them as they all jumped off the building.

I eyed my surroundings to make sure the coast was clear, and took the opportunity to run and jump out the window, landing swiftly on the rooftop of the neighbouring building.

I wasn't too confident about jumping off of buildings, yet, but I took the chance. I'd call it a success.

I ran to the other end of the roof and looked down to cars speeding past the opening of an underground tunnel. Helicopters flew across the sky, scanning the ground for signs of Cap, Bucky, or the giant cat, which I was pretty sure was a man dressed in a costume.

Police sirens cut through the wind. Dozens of men were shouting. Walkie-talkies buzzed. And I jumped.

The landing wasn't smooth. I didn't expect it to be. The driver of the car I landed on slammed the breaks, flinging me onto the road. I hit my head.

Thankfully, nobody saw my ungraceful fall. I got up off the ground just as a truck sped past where I laid half a second ago.

My body pressed against the wall, eyes shut, my breathing deep. Then I heard Steve yelling and opened my eyes. I ran, catching up with him as fast as I could amidst speeding cars and trucks.

Steve, now on my right, forced his way into a car, while Bucky, on my left, did something that made time slow down.

It was as if the universe wanted to give the world as much time possible to cherish the moment.

He turned around, grabbed hold the handle of a motorcycle going maybe 130 km/h, pushed off the guy riding it, swung the motorcycle around 180°, midair, and straddled it, all within a time frame of one second.

And then he rode away, leaving me standing there on the road, jaw wide open.

"Woah," was all I managed to say once my brain was able to put together what happened.

Despite feeling blood streaming out of my nose, I kept running, soon catching up with Bucky. Glancing back, I saw the Cat - Man jump onto the hood of Cap's car, who desperately tried to shake him off, but failing. Then, he used the technique that worked so well with me: Cap slammed the breaks.

The Cat came right at us, flying, arms outstretched. He slammed into me, and I fell and slammed into Bucky, throwing him off his motorcycle. And in the two seconds we were midair, a thin streak of blue light appeared around us, a gust of cold wind, a deep - blue hole, and then Bucky and I crash landed onto hard wood.

Bucky landed further than I did, preventing me from falling on top of him. He coughed and my head spun, a steady trickle of blood still coming out of my nose, pooling on the floor.

I watched in silence as Bucky got up, looking around him with a 'what the hell?' face. And, as he reached to take off his jacket, he winced. He looked over his shoulder at a long, bloody cut through his jacket, which wasn't a pretty sight. I gagged.

Bucky jumped at the sound and grabbed the object nearest him, a fork, "Who-" he began, before I revealed my bleeding self, on my knees, coughing.

"What the hell?" he said, putting a hand to his chest.

I raised a hand. "I can explain."

But he didn't take it. He walked towards me, fork extended. "Who are you?" he asked.

I coughed once more. "The girl who kind of, might've, accidentally, got you into this mess," I started, finally standing up, hands in the air in defense. "Though I promise it wasn't supposed to end up like this. I was trying to help you, but you know my luck's terrible, so we ended up in this whole situation involving a giant cat man, jumping out of windows and off of buildings, car chases, cops on our tail, et cetera, et cetera. But I'll try to make it better since I have nothing else to do with my life." I laughed. "But it's nice to finally meet you, Bucky."

He stared at me in horror, "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

"Right," I whispered. "I should've started easy." I extended a weak, trembling hand. "Hi. I'm Blaire."

He didn't move - just kept the fork aimed at my face.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I've been helping you, kind of, ever since HYDRA attacked your apartment."

"How did you - you just - where did you come from?" he questioned, clearly bewildered.

"Oh," I laughed, though it hurt my ribs. "I was invisible."

He stared at me in the silence that followed my statement. And I stared back in an attempt to display dominance.

He squinted his eyes.

I raised my eyebrows.

More silence.

"Okay, fine." I said, breaking the silence. "I'll show you, but trust me, I'll faint if I go invisible right now, because I've been like this for two hours."

He still refused to lower the fork, which I highly doubted could prove to be a weapon of mass destruction, but in his hands, it probably could've been.

"You're bleeding out." I said. "And my arms are killing me, can I bring them down?"

He moved back, slightly. "Fine."

I lowered my arms. "Can I check that?" I motioned to the gash on his cheek.

"No."

I walked up to him, anyways. He stood still as I approached. "Man," I said, analyzing his face. "Cat-Man scratched you bad."

I poked his face where the cut was bleeding profoundly. "Ew, and really deep."

His left hand jerked up the second my finger touched his face, and the fork struck my shoulder.

"Woah," I said, raising my hands and backing away.

His face dropped, instantly, and he let go of the fork, which clanged on the ground. "S-sorry," he whispered.

His breathing quickened and I sensed how scared he felt. He had went two years in isolation and hadn't hurt a fly. Now, with his hideout and location busted, he had nowhere to go, and on top of that, he thought he hurt me. I'd studied him for years. I should've known to take it easy.

"Hey, it's okay," I said, rubbing my shoulder. "It just touched me. It didn't hurt me."

Bucky began hyperventilating. I went up to him and looked at his face, drenched with sweat, already. He put his hands out, shielding his face.

"Please, just go away." He doubled over.

I knelt down beside him and placed a hand on his back. "Bucky, don't worry. I heal fast. Just like you." And with that, his breathing slowed down just the tiniest bit.

"What?" he breathed, meeting my eyes.

"Yeah," I said, relieved. "It comes with the invisibility." I slowed my own breathing and willed myself to disappear.

My body tingled and began to faze from view. A drop of blood splashed on the ground before I disappeared completely.

All I saw was Bucky's shocked expression as I fell to the floor, the invisibility draining the last bit of my strength.

Bucky ran to my assumed location, his hands frantically searching the floor. My breathing slowed and I willed myself into visibility.

My head suddenly weighed a million pounds, my nose felt wet, and my ears decided to cosplay drums.

He gently lifted me off the ground. "I'm not the only one bleeding."

I brought my hand to my nose, and found it scarlet from blood. "Oh." I managed to say, before passing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading. I hope you like it : )


	3. Spellbinding

My head hurt. A steady thumping pulsated through my entire body. Light blinded my vision when I opened my eyes, and I swayed a little as I sat up.

I was on a couch, my blood washed up. Bucky sat in the far corner by a window, dabbing at his shoulder with a blood-stained cloth.

I looked around the old house. "You couldn't find a first-aid kit?" I said, voice raspy.

Bucky looked up. "No."

I got up off the couch, head spinning, and walked into the kitchen. The first cupboard I opened had a giant, white first-aid box in it. I grabbed it and took it over to him, setting it down on a side table.

He thanked me and nodded to a chair. I sat down. It was quiet and I watched him quietly patch himself up like it was a practiced activity.

I stared out the window. Stone and dirt littered the ground. A grey wall faced us, painted with graffiti.

"We can't go outside," Bucky said. "There are men patrolling the area.

"HYDRA?" I asked, looking at him.

"Most likely, but they've passed the house a million times and didn't suspect anything. They probably checked it before we landed here."

"So we're trapped here." I said, flatly.

"Just until they leave. Then I've got to go back."

"Back where?"

"To Steve," he said. "I have to find him, first."

"How far do you think we ended up?" I asked, staring at the wall outside the window.

"I don't know. I don't even know how the hell we ended up here in the first place. One second we're in the tunnel, and another . . . " he said, rolling down his sleeve, finished patching himself up.

"Your lip's bleeding," I commented.

He licked his lips.

My face contorted in disgust. "Eww, why did you do that?!"

He looked at me, confused. "It's my own blood."

"Yeah, but why lick it if there are a million band aids right here?" I said, pointing at the gigantic first-aid kit.

He shrugged and unconsciously licked his lip, again.

I took a closer look with the blood gone. "Well, that's going to need a lot more than a band-aid. It's deep."

I dug through the box, bringing out a mini, sterilized suture kit.

"I'll do it," he said.

"How are you possibly going to see?"

"I can feel it," he said, obvsiously. I handed him the kit.

In a matter of minutes, he perfectly stitched himself up. I, in the meantime, raided the kitchen.

Most of the cupboards were empty, and the refrigerator was turned off, but I managed to find a couple of bags of chips and two boxes of juice. I noticed that the microwave was turned off, as well, and there were no lights on, either. I found a light switch, and flicked it on, but nothing turned on.

"There's no electricity." I mentioned, opening a bag of chips and handing one to Bucky.

"That explains the heat."

And as soon as he said that, I realized how hot it actually was inside. I took off my jacket, throwing it on the couch nearby.

My eyes widened. "Oh my God," I said, running to pick up my jacket. I frantically searched the inside pocket, but it was empty.

"What are you looking for?" Bucky asked, mouth stuffed with chips.

"I had . . . there was a - " I heard a tiny squeak.

Bucky's mouth dropped and he crouched down. "Hey, Winter Bunny! I thought I'd lost you, again."

The bunny hopped out of a corner into Bucky's hands.

I stared at him. "Winter Bunny?"

He stood up, cradling the bunny. "That's his name."

"How do you manage to find a bunny in Romania?"

He hesitated for a second. "I . . . had a business," he whispered.

I raised an eyebrow. There was no way he was telling the truth.

"It's how I was affording my apartment."

"Oh," I said. "How do you manage to start a business during hideout? And how did no one find you? How did no one suspect anything? Didn't people look at you and think 'Hey, why does this random, grown dude look after bunnies?'"

"It wasn't just bunnies. Long story, but I found a lost puppy, one day, and I found the owner and returned him. Apparently, the puppy was lost for a month, and there was a reward prize for his safe return. I won it. So, I rented an apartment with the money. The next day, the same owner had to go on vacation and asked if I could look after the puppy for a couple of days. I did, and he paid me when he got back. A lot. So, I put up a sign, and every day, a couple of pets would be at my apartment."

I stared at him, dumbfounded.

"What?" he asked.

My gaze fell to the bunny. "I . . . when your apartment was attacked, I saw the bunny and picked him up. I thought he was yours. Now the owners are going to think you kidnapped their bunny. I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Oh, don't worry. Winter's mine." he assured.

I let out a breath. "Well, that explains the name."

He smiled, petting the bunny.

It was spellbinding, his smile. I made him do that, and I felt my cheeks get hot. But, I wished he'd smile more often. I wished I was able to help him do that. I wished I was able to help everyone do that.

But the important thing in that moment was that I think I gained his trust, and it was a great first step.

*


	4. Just In Case

We took turns patrolling. And by patrolling, I mean staring out the window for hours, waiting for the HYDRA agents to leave. For some reason, they didn't. They simply stood there like statues, occasionally moving only to scratch their nose or sneeze.

I slept on the couch while Bucky took first watch. My energy had lowered to the point where it was a trial just to talk. When I had woken and had taken second watch, Bucky walked around the house, his eyes not leaving me.

I sighed. "I thought you trusted me." I said, without looking at him.

"Trust comes slow, nowadays," he said.

"Okay," I said, walking over to the kitchen where my jacket laid on the counter top.

It had become insanely hot in the house. We couldn't figure out why, it was chilly before. I'd searched the house for a thermostat to turn on the heat, but there was none, so we just had to take off our jackets.

I searched the pockets of my jacket and found my notebook. I hesitated to pull it out, but there was no other way to gain his trust, which was crucial if I wanted to keep us both safe.

I turned around and smirked. "Didn't you body check me when I was unconscious? I thought you didn't trust me."

"I couldn't touch you," he said, taken back.

"What if I was actually HYDRA and had a weapon or tracker on me?"

He thought about that. "But you're not."

"I know, but there's always the risk. And, to further prove my point, I'm showing you this." I set my notebook down in front of him.

"What's this?" he asked, picking it up.

"Open it."

He stared at the plain blue cover for a while, then opened it. All the loose pictures fell out onto his lap. He picked them up and looked at each and every one.

"These people . . . "

"HYDRA experiments," I replied. "Or people whose lives HYDRA destroyed. Directly and indirectly."

He turned each picture around, reading the names on the back. He read some of them out loud: "Emmy Carr, Leo Fitz, Mike Peterson, Jemma Simmons, Jade Waters, Buck - " he stopped, looking at me.

"Page twelve," I said, nodding at the notebook.

He set the pictures down and flipped the book to page twelve. His name was scribbled across the top of the page, above a list of all the things I could remember about him.

He read them through, all four pages, most of the writing mine, and when he finished, he closed the book and stared at the ground.

"How do you know all of that?" he asked, his voice shaky.

I sat down beside him on the couch. 

"Because they had me, too." I said, swallowing hard. "They, uh . . . I was experimented on for years. Whatever they were originally trying to do to me, didn't work. They called the invisibility a 'side effect'." My eyes began to water. "My brother sold me out to HYDRA."

I picked out a picture from the pile. I'd stolen it from one of HYDRA's folders during my escape, so it was pretty recent.

He read the name on the back. "Blaire Kalina," he said, gently taking the picture from my hand and turning it around, staring at the face. "That's you."

The girl in the picture sure looked like me: light skin, light brown hair, green eyes, but she wasn't me. She was trapped, like a caged animal, like a dummy HYDRA could beat the life out of every day to their pleasure. But I was now free of HYDRA. I was free of a life of torture, pain, and suffering for no reason.

"I saw them bring you in after every mission." I said.

Bucky looked at me, eyes wide.

"They moved me to the same facility as you in 2012, placed me in the room right next to yours. They left the doors open. They were so sure I wouldn't escape. And I heard them fix you up, ask you for mission reports, abuse you."

There was a moment of of silence between us.

I continued. "But you were a fighter. It would take a lot for them to get something out of you."

More silence.

I played with the bottom of my shirt. "But for you, their job was to simply put you back into cryo. For me, they kept a giant metal chair. I was in it, constantly, for all those years. They had me strapped down with more metal so I couldn't move or break out. But, I saw and heard everything."

two

I rolled up the sleeve of my shirt and revealed a wide, purple indent in my skin.

"Oh my God," whispered Bucky.

"It's the metal they kept me down with."

The indent was extremely deep, like someone purposely peeled off all the layers of my skin until they touched bone. And it circled the circumference of my bicep. It had healed in the two years I was free, but not by much.

"Is it on both arms?" he asked, concern etched across his face.

"Yeah, and both thighs."

"I'm sorry," he breathed.

I gave him a small smile. "Once I escaped, I had nobody to go to, and nowhere to be. So I wrote down everything I could remember about anything I heard in HYDRA, in the notebook.

He glanced at the pages, crippled and brown, yet full of secrets not many knew.

"I found it in the rain, one day. " I added, looking at the dirty pages.

"Then what did you do?" asked Bucky.

"I tried everything, but I couldn't find peace. I thought that by writing everything down, I'd feel lighter, but I didn't. The reality of the situation hit me smack in the face. I had to get the word out, I had to tell SHIELD, but it was infiltrated and I couldn't trust anyone. So I set out, finding people, helping them. I soon began to recognize faces among the crowds - faces of those who were forced to walk the hallways in HYDRA. 'Experiments' as they called them. A lot of us had scattered after the breakout in 2014, and I found and gathered the majority of them, creating a safehouse in the process. We lived together and helped each other. We were all we had. We were family. A broken one, but family nonetheless."

"Nobody ever escaped HYDRA. How was there a mass breakout?"

"There was an undercover SHIELD agent in the HYDRA compound and - "

I heard a loud creak and shuffling. Instinctively, I went invisible, but Bucky was too late in reacting, so he just stood there.

A little girl in dirty blue shorts and a blue top appeared out of a hole in the back wall of the house. It must've been hidden well, because neither Bucky or I had noticed it before.

"Oh," she said, staring at Bucky, who turned back to look at me, but I was't visible, leaving him to deal with the girl, alone. Whoops.

"I'm playing superheros," she said, flashing a toothless grin. She spun around, a blue cape flying around her shoulders. "This is my super-secret head-qwo-ters. Are you a superhero?"

Bucky looked down at her, quiet.

"Your lips's got a boo-boo," she mentioned, pointing at Bucky's face.

He raised his fingers to his lip and drew them back to see them stained with blood. His stitches had opened. I rolled my eyes. I had told him he couldn't have done it alone.

The little girl reached into a pocket of her shorts and pulled out a handful of colourful bandages. "My mommy gave these to me. Just in case."

I silently walked towards her, watching, and for a moment it seemed like her eyes met mine, but they most probably just went through. Lots of people looked right at me, as if they saw me, but no one actually did. It freaked me out, sometimes, and I had to look down at myself to make sure I was out of sight.

The little girl extended her hand. "You can pick one," she said.

Bucky reached out with his right hand, very slowly, like he was afraid of hurting her, and picked up a bright pink band-aid. He opened it and put it on. Then, he whispered the tiniest "Thank you."

The little girl pulled the sleeve of his shirt, and Bucky sat down on his knees. Before he knew it, she planted the smallest kiss on his forehead.

I melted.

"My mommy says kisses help you heal faster. Just in case," she said in her squeaky voice.

And Bucky was sitting there, paralyzed.

The little girl stuffed the rest of the band-aids in her pocket and walked back to the hole in the wall. "Don't worry," she said. "I won't tell anyone you're here. It's a superhero hideout, anyways." And she turned around and left through the hole.

When she turned around, I'd noticed her left cheek had a giant scar running diagonally along it, and wondered what had caused it. She was just a kid.

Once she was gone, I willed myself into visibility. Bucky looked at me, touching his forehead. "Just in case," he said.

"Just in case," I repeated.


	5. Where We Ended Up

We had a couple of problems. First, we needed food - all the cupboards were empty. The two bags of chips I found before were all there was. Then came the ripple effect. To get more food, we had to go outside, but there were HYDRA agents everywhere. To figure out how to leave the house, we had to figure out how we ended up there in the first place. It was a matter of safety. All we knew was that we were in an old, abandoned house with no food or electricity.

"What if we're in a different country?" I asked, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"No, I think it's still Romania." Bucky replied, glancing out the window.

"How do you know?"

"It can't be anything other than Romania. That's insane. It's not even possible. It has to be Romania."

I stared at my hands, moist with sweat. "It wasn't scorching hot in Romania."

Bucky took a while to reply. "Maybe we should go to sleep, think about everything in the morning."

"Good call," I said, leaping up. The bunny ran over my feet, its soft fur sweeping against my legs.

I looked around the house. There wasn't much inside, except for a couch, a chair, and a table.

"There's a small bed upstairs. You can sleep there." Bucky mentioned.

"What about you?" I asked.

"I get the couch."

I was grateful. "Thanks,' I said, going up the creaky stairs which led straight into a tiny bedroom. I turned around at the top. "But we switch tomorrow. I get the couch, you get the bed."

"Deal."

I didn't even think about anything. I walked into the room and face-planted on the bed. And I instantly fell asleep.

* * *

I awoke the next morning, and my first word was, "Crap."

I tried going back to sleep, but it was impossible. Winter bunny hopped all over my face, and I sneezed so hard he went flying across the room.

I jumped out of bed and picked him up. "I'm so sorry," I said, rubbing his furry little head.

Then, Bucky came running into my room. "Blaire, you have to see this." He ran back down the stairs, and I followed, Winter in my arms.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Bucky stood in front of the kitchen, all the cupboards open and overflowing with food.

"Jackpot!" I exclaimed, grabbing a couple of bags of chips.

"No, stop," said Bucky.

I turned around.

"All these cupboards were empty last night," he said.

I dropped the chips. "You're right."

"Do you think it was HYDRA?" he asked, his voice now a whisper.

"No, that makes no sense," I said, whispering as well. "They didn't come in before - didn't even look this way. "

"Maybe it was a part of their plan."

"What would the plan be? If they wanted to kill us, they would've done it by now."

"Maybe that's what they want us to think."

I thought on that, but Bucky spoke again.

"Do you think it could've been the little girl?"

"From yesterday? No." I glanced at all the cupboards. "There's no way she could've reached that high, or had enough money to get all this food."

"She's the only one who knew our location."

I shook my head. "No. It can't be her. She was just a kid."

"What if . . . what if this is HYDRA wanting to keep us inside the house?" Bucky suggested.

"You mean under house arrest?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah."

I thought about that. "But, why? It's not like we're a threat to other people."

"They think we are."

I looked out the window, seeing nothing but a grey wall. "Okay, but we don't even know if HYDRA knows we're in here."

"Then why are they guarding us?"

"They aren't technically guarding us. They're standing so far away and not even looking in this direction."

Bucky picked up his jacket from the kitchen counter and ran his fingers through his long hair. "Whatever it is, we're not safe here, anymore. Someone got in here last night without us knowing. They didn't kill us. There's got to be a bigger plan. Let's go."

I didn't protest. He was right. So, I grabbed my jacket, and put Winter in the inside pocket, his head poking out. I checked my other pocket for my notebook, but it wasn't there. "Where . . . "

I saw it lying on the table, and took a breath of relief. I walked over to get it, and saw a dirty backpack lying around in the corner.

I picked it up. "Is this yours?" I asked Bucky.

He looked over. "No. I lost mine in the tunnel."

I stuffed my notebook and jacket in the bag. It was too hot to keep it on. Winter hopped out and fit himself into a small pocket of the bag.

All Bucky had to pick up was his jacket.

We looked out the window and couldn't see much besides the grey wall, so we silently, but quickly opened the door. A rush of cool wind hit us and I let out a deep breath.

"Damn, it's cold." Bucky said, swinging his jacket off his shoulder, and putting it on. I took mine of out of my backpack and put it on, too.

Remembering something, I turned around and went into the kitchen. I grabbed the first-aid kit from one of the cupboards and stuffed it in the backpack.

I went back outside. "Sorry, I went to grab the first-aid kit." I said.

"Smart," Bucky said, and we both walked down the stairs.

The area was surprisingly clear of agents. It was crawling with them last night, and now, all of a sudden, they were gone. Bucky was right. Something was wrong.

I tuned around to look at the house one last time, but it wasn't there.

"It . . . it's . . . " I smacked Bucky's arm. He turned around.

"What?" he said.

But he didn't have to wait for an answer. He followed my gaze and his jaw dropped.

"Where the hell did it go?" he said, walking forward.

"I swear we just left the house," I said, looking around.

He looked at me. "Did you turn it invisible? Maybe by accident?"

"No," I replied, walking through the area on the ground where the house once stood, two feet from where we were standing. "I can't turn buildings invisible. Or humans or animals. Only objects - small objects."

"You walked right through where the house was. How's that possible?" he asked, in a state of complete confusion.

"I don't know. If it was invisible, I would've bumped into it."

"But you didn't, so . . . "

"It moved. Or it was moved." I shook my head.

"An entire house? In two seconds?"

I bent down to touch the grass, which was plush and green, like there never was a house there in the first place. "Aliens exist. Superheros exist. Thor exists. Why are you surprised a house disappeared?" I asked.

"I come from the 40s. A simple point in time where a flying car was a work in progress."

"Right, this is all new to you." I said, standing up. "Overwhelming, even. Sorry." I changed the subject, not wanting to sadden him with his past.

I held the straps of my backpack. "I don't think we'll find any answers here. But we can find out what country this is."

Bucky let out a breath. "Then let's find out."

So we headed on our way, confused at literally everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. We walked side by side, weaving through narrow streets, passing a closed down shop. And with every corner we turned, I felt as if I knew where we were, but I couldn't have been sure. All the streets we passed were old, tight, and broken down, and we met no one for a long while.

"I don't think we're in Bucharest, anymore." Bucky said after we turned a hundred more corners.

"Yeah . . . " I said, turning a corner and almost walking right into a river.

"Woah!" Bucky exclaimed as he pulled me back.

We stared at the water, all around us. A giant crowd of tourists walked past behind us. We stood on a wet, stone dock, tall buildings surrounding us. A tiny boat sailed through the river in front of us.

"Huh," I said, dropping my shoulders, releasing the tension. "Venice."

Bucky turned to stare at me.

"Italy," I said.

"I know, I know," he said, shaking his head. "But how did we end up in Venice from all the way in Bucharest?"

"The blue thing in the tunnel must've been a portal."

"But why Venice?"

"Beats me. All I wanna know is who or what created the portal."

"God," Bucky said, looking around. "where did we end up?"

A glimmer of sunlight shone on the water. I stared out at the vast horizon, past all the gondolas and rivers. Past all the people and buildings. It was something bigger, a bigger force that shot us through space, into Venice, and we might never find out what it was. All we could do was make the best of it, because the greater forces always have a reason for everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like how this story is turning out. It wasn't planned this way, originally. But I like it, anyways. I hope you all do, as well. Thank you, once again. I love you all❤️


	6. Survivors

"Venice, wow," Bucky breathed.

"Don't freak out, I know a place." I said, beginning to walk.

I turned around after a while, and Bucky was still standing where he was, before. I walked back, grabbed his hand, and dragged him forward.

"I don't think it's far from here," I said, as he quietly trailed behind me.

He didn't speak for a long while. He simply followed my lead, staring at the buildings, water, and gondolas drifting past us.

I wandered around for a while, until I turned a corner into a familiar square. I went invisible and let go of Bucky's hand so it wouldn't look weird, like it was floating.

"Blaire," he said, finally, when I turned invisible.

I stopped walking, and turned visible. "What happened?"

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I told you, I know a place."

"Where?"

"Just follow my lead, and be discreet."

He pulled a cap out of his jacket pocket and put it on. I didn't turn invisible, but walked close to the walls, instead, leading the way through the square, watching for anything suspicious.

We soon came to an old alley. I stood in front of it for a moment, and took a deep breath.

"They're probably worried sick," I said, glancing and Bucky. " I mean, they probably could've sensed me, since we landed here, yesterday. But it's good they haven't opened the door, yet. They're finally following the rules. Although I don't know if they sent out a search party. They shouldn't have, but we won't know unless we go inside. I can't even sense how many of them are in there, I can barely concentrate. But, I'm pretty sure they're all still in there."

Bucky stared at me.

I cleared my throat. "Sorry, I, uh, ramble when I'm nervous."

A smile played on his lips. "I noticed."

I laughed. "It's just . . . these people are my family. We've been through hell together."

"What people?" he asked.

"Oh, right." I turned around and walked into the alley, Bucky right behind me.

We came to a door on our right, old and rusty, but the entrance to home, nonetheless.

I knocked.

The sound echoed off the narrow walls of the alley. We waited.

A bell rung somewhere, and I knocked three times slow, and fast, twice. Then, I pulled Bucky to the side as water leaked through the bottom of the door.

"What's - "

"It's Tristan, don't worry. It's a safety precaution. Just don't touch the water, there's an electrical current running through it." I explained.

We stood there, backed up against a wall, watching the water rise in front of us, forming a thin wall, moving towards us.

Bucky tried pulling away, but I grabbed a hold of his sleeve.

"Stay. Don't move. He'll electrocute you."

"He?"

The wall of water moved closer and closer to us, then dropped and retreated back through the door.

We waited some more, and a slight buzzing became audible. I was calm, as always, until I realized Bucky had a metal arm.

"Oh crap -"

I tried to grab him, but was too late. He went flying, face-first, into the door.

I cringed. Then, my backpack violently vibrated and went shooting for the door, dragging me, backwards, along with it. I slammed into the metal door.

The door instantly swung open, Bucky and I falling to the ground, at the feet of over half a dozen people.

I groaned, and awkwardly smiled up at the bewildered faces above me. "Heyyyy, guys."

They all tackled me at once, yelling at my face. "Blaire, thank God." "Where the hell were you?" "You look terrible." "There are dark circles under your eyes." "We thought you died."

"Yeah, nice to finally see you all, too." I mumbled underneath everyone.

They all got off of me and helped me stand up. "I had a metal first - aid kit in my backpack. That's probably why Magnet tried to kill me."

I heard a nervous laugh in the back, followed by a "Sorry,"

A tall, dark man phased through everyone and came face to face with me, getting a whole bunch of disgusted comments from everyone.

"Man, why do you do that all the time?" said one girl, clutching her stomach. "Not cool."

He ignored her. "What took you so long?" he asked me, concerned.

"I found . . ." I turned around to see Bucky lying unconscious on the ground. I sighed. "Great, you guys knocked him out."

"Holy - is that Bucky Barnes?" A blonde girl almost screamed, her blue eyes wide.

"Yup. Magnet attracted his arm, so he hit the door with his face," I said, bending down to help him up.

"Oh my gosh, I killed Bucky Barnes." wailed Magnet, her hands covering her face.

"Chill, Juhi, he's just unconscious." I said.

A young, brown-skinned girl sat beside me. "Let me try," she said, touching Bucky's cheek.

A ripple shot through the arena at the moment her fingers touched his skin. She'd absorbed his powers. She was then easily able to lift him off the ground and put an arm around his shoulder. I got the other, and we walked across the arena, and placed him carefully on a couch.

I looked around the place - the home we had created, together. "The theater's looking great." I mentioned.

"We had a lot of time on our hands while you were gone," she said, placing a light blanket over Bucky.

"Any trouble?" I asked.

"Nope,"

I watched as everyone gathered around to look at Bucky.

"How did you find him?" asked Dawn, her blue eyes now, literally, glowing.

I sighed. "It's a long story. I'll tell you all right after I get some serious sleep. You wouldn't believe everything that happened." I said, walking up a staircase behind the theater stage. My mattress laid exactly where I'd left it, in my corner of the gallery. "I saw Captain America, by the way." I said, very casually.

Then, as the frantic whispers broke out below, I laid down and fell asleep.

* * *

It wasn't long before I awoke to my name being yelled, repeatedly, by a dozen people. I jumped up and sprinted down the stairs, half awake, stumbling over myself, and running right into Bucky, drenched with sweat. I fell back from the impact.

"Blaire!" he exclaimed, helping me up.

"Calm down!" said Agam, her hands outstretched.

I held on to Bucky's arm to steady myself. "What's going on?" I asked, my vision finally focused.

"He woke up, saw us, freaked out, and tried to escape." explained Agam, breathing heavily.

I looked at Bucky. "Hey, it's alright. These are my friends."

"I didn't . . . I didn't see you, so I thought something happened." he breathed.

I smiled reassuringly. "It's okay. I'm okay. You're safe here."

"But that girl," Bucky nodded at the blonde girl. "she . . . separated, and there were five of her." He clasped his hands together, and slowly brought them apart, in attempt to explain.

"That's Dawn," I said. "She can duplicate herself, sometimes as herself, or as different personalities. It's her power. We all have them."

Dawn raised her hand and flashed a bright smile at Bucky. "Hi! I'm Dawn. Big fan."

"Fan?" Bucky asked, looking at me.

"You're pretty well-known to us. Remember I told you I was looking for you, when I met you?" I said.

"Um . . . "

"Well, I was, and so were all of them. You know Dawn, already."

At that, everyone stood in a line, eager.

"That's Rigel," I said, pointing to him, standing at the far left. "He can phase through things."

Rigel smiled.

"That's Fay," I said, pointing to the thin, dark girl standing next in line. "She calls herself Cosmo. She can see heat signatures and create force fields and stuff."

"We sorta met Tristan," I continued, pointing at the tall, Korean man next to Fay. "He can turn himself into water, and manipulate water, too."

"This is Agam. She can mimic powers."

"Only after contact," she added, smiling.

"Yeah, that's how we got you onto the couch." I said.

A boy stood next to her. "This is Kellan." I said. "He can control minds. He's the youngest of us." 

"Seventeen," he said, a quiver in his voice.

Agam placed a hand on his shoulder. He'd been like that ever since Agam found him starving on the ground in the middle of a crowded road, last year. We all tried everything to help him, but he was too traumatized. We figured it would be best to wait it out, give him room, and talk to him when he's ready.

I pointed to the last person in line, a girl. "Finally, this is Juhi. The human magnet."

She awkwardly smiled. "Sorry I knocked you out, before, with the whole magnet thing."

Bucky smiled at her.

"It's another safety precaution, to attract weapons and stuff," I said.

"It's a smart idea," he said.

Dawn spoke up. "So . . . you two are like, what? Friends?"

I stared at Bucky. "Um. . . yeah, I think. Only if you forgive me for blowing your cover and almost getting you killed." I asked him.

He smirked. "Only if you forgive me for holding a fork to your neck."

"He held a fork to your neck ?" blurted Rigel.

I let out a laugh. "He thought I was an intruder. We'd met two seconds before it happened. I don't blame him."

"That's one hell of a 'how we met' story," laughed Dawn, playfully punching my arm.

Everybody laughed, Bucky included. A warm, fuzzy feeling shot through me, seeing all of us like that.

I wanted, more than anything, to stop time right there in that perfect frame of existence. To make it anything but a memory that I would go back to, endlessly. And maybe, I could've, if I'd only known . . .

Agam, Dawn, Rigel, Fay, Tristan, Juhi, Kellan, and Bucky. They were family. They were home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know there's still a lot of mystery. A lot of questions you all must have. All I can say is: you gotta wait. I promise most of your questions will be answered. Please keep critiquing the good and the bad. It really helps. Thank you.


	7. Within The Darkness

The rest of the day was spent talking. To be honest, I did most of the talking, and Bucky did the listening. Everyone else fired questions at me, desperately wanting to know all the details of my trip, and journey back with Bucky.

The discovery of Winter Bunny had everyone ecstatic beyond words, and Winter Bunny himself was enjoying the attention. Of course Bucky retold the story of how he found him, and that's all the talking he did. But from that, I could tell he'd warmed up to us. 

At night, once everyone had settled in, I shut down the lights from the main switch behind the stage, and walked up to my gallery. It was my favourite spot in the theater. I could see everything and everyone, including the stars through the skylight directly above me.

A figure shifted within the darkness, making its way across the arena, and up the stairs. Bucky walked into the gallery, the moonlight lighting his way.

"Can't sleep?" I asked.

He shook his head, his long hair waving around.

I patted a hand on the mattress beside me. He sat down, sinking into it.

"Who were you looking for?" he asked, squinting in the silver light.

"What?"

"The people, your friends, they were asking you if you found 'the sense'?"

"Oh, " I said, shaking my head. "You must've been so confused. So, a few weeks ago, we all sensed someone. It was the strongest one we'd ever felt - "

"Sensed?"

"Um . . . it's kinda weird. We were all HYDRA experiments, right, and the only way I was able to find and gather everyone was that I felt their presence. I could sense them and they could sense me. We don't know why we can do it. We just can. It's . . . hard to explain."

I crossed my legs under me, getting into a more comfortable position. "So, this sense was really strong, and every time there's a sense, we all take turns going out in search of the person. There's always been a sense for the past two years, but they've been decreasing lately. Two weeks ago, it was my turn, so I went in search of this strong sense. I followed it from here, all the way to Romania. Then, I lost it. It didn't move, it just disappeared all of a sudden. That never happened before. I thought maybe it was me - because I was tired. So, I thought it would come back if I rested a bit. I found a little place where I stayed for about a week in hopes of finding the sense again. That's when I found you."

"Why do you go looking for others?" he asked.

"Because, we can help each other. I mean, we figured we could only sense each other because we were all kept in the same facility. Maybe there was some sort of connection."

He thought about that. "But, wouldn't HYDRA know about this connection?"

"We don't know. That's why we stay hidden in this theater and have all those safety precautions."

"Why a theater?"

I smiled. "I read this book as a kid. I forgot the title, but a bunch of kids lived in an abandoned theater in Venice. Plus, this was the most isolated and secure building I could find."

"You like to read?" he asked, glancing up at the skylight.

"I used to," I said, also looking up at the stars.

We sat in silence for a while, gazing up at the stars. It was a nice silence, a different sound from what we'd been hearing the past two weeks.

Bucky spoke, his voice now a whisper. "How'd you escape?"

I thought back to the day it happened, a million memories flooding my mind. "I had help. We all did. There was an undercover SHIELD agent in the HYDRA base that year. I don't know what she was doing there, but she went out of her way to help us. She saw what HYDRA did down below. She'd wandered in accidentally, without being seen. We talked a few times, and one day, we created a plan. It didn't exactly go the way we wanted it to, but she made it out, helping me and all the others on the same floor. It was the biggest mass breakout in HYDRA. They've been on their toes ever since, trying to lure us back in."

"Damn," said Bucky. "She just helped you? For no reason?"

"She was a good person, I guess."

"Then what happened?" he asked, curious.

"We all scattered after that, until I started bringing us together. Now, we're family. Two years and continuing."

Bucky was silent for a while. "You're strong," he said.

"Yeah, it comes with the invisibility," I said.

"No, I don't mean physically. Though you are. I mean, you got out of HYDRA. You combined a group. You're living. You're a survivor. You all are."

"So are you." I turned to look at him. He was still staring out the skylight, the moonlight bouncing off his blue eyes.

"Not really," he said. "I'm just shut off, right now. Say a couple of words in the right order, and I'm a killing machine again."

"No you're not. You're a survivor. You fought every single day. It's amazing how annoyed HYDRA got of you. You resisted. You just don't remember."

"Yeah, well I didn't resist hard enough," he said, abruptly getting up.

I tried to hold him back, but he walked away. I watched him go down the stairs, across the arena, up another pair of stairs into his gallery, and lie down on his mattress, face pushed against his pillow.

Guilt surged through me. A lump formed in my throat. "Sorry," I whispered, falling back onto the mattress.

"It's me." I rubbed my hands over my face, holding back imminent tears.

Everything that ever went wrong was my fault. I knew I didn't do it on purpose, but it all still came back to me. Maybe none of this would've happened if I'd fought harder and fled before my brother sold me out 15 years ago. Maybe I should've died when HYDRA tortured me. That would've been best. It would've prevented everything, because in the end, I was barely human. I caused problems everywhere I went, survived things a human wouldn't have, hell, I couldn't even talk to someone without making them cry.

But I couldn't leave or run away, even though I wanted to. I had to help these people. I had to redeem myself - do as much good as possible in hopes of getting a little bit of mercy in the afterlife.

I had to try. Despite everything, I had to try. But I didn't know how much longer I could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please don't be afraid to critique - the good and the bad. I really appreciate y'all reading this story. There's a lot of excitement to come. I love you. <3


	8. Orion, Sirius, Big Dipper, Little Dipper

I awoke the next morning, determined. It was going to be a good, positive day. Bucky was still asleep, but everyone else was up and about.

I told them my plan, and they loved it: everyone was going to chill, nobody was going to mention HYDRA or anything that'll upset anyone. We'd train all day long and have fun.

So, we all ate and set up the stage. Tristan and Rigel fooled around with Winter Bunny, who was a source of joy for us all in the theater. He really livened things up.

An hour or so later, Bucky still hadn't come down, though I heard him shuffling about. I asked Dawn to go check on him.

"Why?" she asked, pulling her blonde locks into an effortless messy bun.

"Because," I started, not sure how to word it. "He's awake, but isn't coming down."

"How do you know?"

I didn't want to tell her it was because I upset him last night, and now he didn't want to look me in the face.

"I dunno. Just do it, please?" I begged.

"Okay . . . but why me?"

"Because you're good at . . . you know, talking to people."

She laughed. "Okay, alright." And with that, she walked up the stairs. I sat on a chair, below the gallery, anxiously listening. They were talking. A lot. Indistinctly.

When Dawn came back, she looked glum. She sat down beside me. "What happened between you two, last night?"

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't tell me anything. I just figured from the way he talked." she explained.

I sighed. "It was going well. We were just talking about how I started up this place. Then, about HYDRA, and about him, and then he got upset and left."

She put a hand on my shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, Blaire."

"Yeah, it was," I said, shrugging her hand off.

"No, it wasn't. He's too emotionally drained, right now." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Think of all the horrible things HYDRA made him do. He blames himself. It's going to take him a lot of time to realize it wasn't him, that it wasn't his fault. He's conflicted beyond hope." She glanced up at the gallery. "And, he was just upset. I bet you, he only left because he didn't want to upset you by him being upset."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Negative emotions breed a negative atmosphere. He didn't want that. He wants to keep this place the way it is. He's probably never seen this in 75 years, Blaire."

I smirked. "Thanks, Sherlock."

She pulled me in for a hug - a foreign feeling for me. I froze. If Dawn noticed, which she probably did, she didn't say anything.

"Now go talk to him," she said.

I opened my mouth to protest.

"No buts," she said, walking away.

I sighed, getting up.

I rounded the corner just as Bucky trudged down the stairs in sweatpants, his hair tousled.

There was a brief moment of silence as we stared at each other.

"Sorry," we both said simultaneously.

"Why are you sorry?" We asked each other at the same time, again.

I spoke first. "I shouldn't have brought it up, last night. It was my fault."

"No, it wasn't," he said, his voice raspy.

Dawn intervened. "How about we don't play the self-blame game?"

Then, Tristan jumped in, his mouth stuffed with food. "Anyone want candy?" He threw one at me. It hit my face and fell to the ground.

"What up with your reflexes?" He said, staring at the fallen candy bar.

"I dunno," I said, picking up the candy. "Which is why we're holding this training day."

Dawn and Kellan got the memo and joined in. "When do we start?" they asked.

"Right now. Bucky will eat and join us after." I said.

"Okay," Bucky replied.

* * *

Bucky sat in the first row, eating, while everyone jumped onto the stage, laughing and fooling around.

The training was a regular exercise, so everyone knew the drill. We all got into pairs, and began practicing.

I partnered up with Kellan, who usually partnered up with Agam.

"Let's see how you do," I said, smiling at him.

"It's better, now," he said, stretching. "I don't have to speak out loud, anymore."

And as soon as he said that, I automatically jumped off the stage, without thinking, ran to the back of the theater where the food stack was, grabbed two cookies, and ran back onto the stage, handing the cookies to Kellan.

He popped one into his mouth.

"Not bad," I said, impressed. "Can't believe you made me run all that way for some cookies, but not bad."

"Still have to make eye contact, though."

"You'll get there," I said, just as a stream of water shot past, under my feet, knocking me over.

"Watch out, Tristan," said multiple voices at once.

Three identical, red-haired women walked up to me, helping me up.

"Red hair!" I exclaimed.

The three women merged, literally, and changed form. The red hair lightened to blonde, and the pale skin darkened to a nice tan. Dawn stood in front of me, beaming. "Finally mastered it."

Bucky walked onto the stage, mouth wide open. "That's insane," he whispered to me, staring at Dawn, who now split into a tall brunette and a short blonde.

"How . . . " he mumbled.

I shrugged.

"What about you?" Kellan asked me.

"Oh, I, uh . . . " I shook my head. "I can make slightly bigger objects invisible, now." I felt my cheeks warm up. I was ashamed. My "improvement" was nowhere near as great as everyone else's.

I took a slow, deep breath, calming my nerves, and willed myself out of sight.

I touched the cookie in Kellan's hand, which he dropped when it turned invisible.

"C'mon, Blaire," he said, staring at the fallen cookie.

My breath caught in my throat. I struggled to swallow.

I turned visible. "Sorry, I'll get you another," I croaked, jumping off the stage and sprinting to the back of the theater, dropping to the floor in tears.

I hugged my knees to my chest, closing my eyes. My breaths were shallow, each intake a piercing pain.

"Orion, Sirius, Big Dipper, Little Dipper. Orion, Sirius, Big Dipper, Little Dipper." I rocked back and forth, eyes shut tight, repeating those words over and over again. "Orion, Sirius, Big Dipper, Little Dipper."

Images of the past flashed through my mind, and I kept at repeating the words.

Then I felt it.

Everyone had felt it. All activity halted and there was silence. I hastily wiped my eyes and ran back to the stage.

"What happened?" said Bucky, breaking the silence.

Dawn jumped up, a huge smile on her face. "Finally, my turn." She dashed through the auditorium and skipped up the stairs.

The sensation was strong. Not as strong as before, but it coursed all the way through me, definitely worth our attention.

Dawn sprinted back down the stairs, her hair flying behind her, and a giant backpack in her hands, full of all the supplies she'd need on her journey.

"We haven't had a sense in ages," I said.

"Which is why this is so exciting," beamed Dawn.

"Stay safe," said Tristan, zipping up an open pocket on her backpack.

"I will," she smiled.

I felt the sense slightly fade. "It's moving. You better go fast."

"See ya!" She patted my arm and smiled at Bucky before leaping through the door, ecstatic.

"She's way too excited," said Agam, laughing.

"I don't blame her," said Tristan, playing with a spiral of water dancing above his hands.

"What happened?" Bucky asked, looking around in confusion.

Of course. He couldn't feel it. "There was a sense," I said. "It was her turn to go looking."

"Oh."

*****

The rest of the day, we spent practicing. Bucky sat watching, amazed at what everyone could do. I sat with him, explaining what he didn't understand. I wasn't in the mood to practice what I couldn't improve.

At the end of the day, everyone was worn out but happy. Wesat around a rickety table and ate dinner in high spirits, cracking jokes and eating until our stomachs hurt.

An hour later everyone had settled in for the night. I shut down all the lights, and headed to my gallery, looking forward to a good night's sleep.

I got around three hours of sleep.

The sound of footsteps awoke me. I grumpily walked down to the stage, where I found Bucky pacing around. His breaths were deep and shaky, and his walk uneven. Even in the darkness, I could see the fear on his face.

He had a nightmare. I could tell.

I quietly walked to the edge of the stage, where a purple switch was lodged in the wall. I flicked it on.

The entire dome of the stage lit up with twinkling white lights. Stars.

The fake starry night sky helped me countless times in the past and I hoped it would help Bucky, too. There was a certain peace that the stars provided - a calm that sprinkled over the stage.

Bucky stopped in his tracks and glanced upwards, then down at me.

I smiled. "They help me calm down, sometimes."

He smiled back. "Thank you."

I crossed my arms in front of me, the cold creeping up my bare arms. "You alright?"

He walked over to the edge of the stage, offering me a hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. "Yeah, it was nothing," he said.

"Don't say it was nothing," I said, looking over his face beaded with sweat.

"I hate getting them,"

"I know," I said, gently holding his hand.

He tensed up.

"You'll be okay," I promised, gazing up at the starry dome. 

 

*


	9. Getting There

On average, going after a sense would range from two days to a week, maximum. When I was gone for two weeks, everyone freaked out. I brought back Bucky, instead. Dawn had another story.

She came rushing back the next morning. We all sensed it was her, and that she had nobody else with her, but had to go through all the safety procedures, nonetheless. When she came in, she was breathless.

"It's . . . Ca . . . Captain America," she said through heaved breaths.

"Steve?" said Bucky, standing up from eating his breakfast.

Dawn waited a few seconds to catch her breath. "I saw him . . . in this truck . . . I tracked it, and it's headed for Berlin."

"I have to go," said Bucky, looking at me from across the room.

"I'm going with you," I said.

He shook his head. "No, stay here. They need you."

"No, they don't. They'll be fine on their own. I got you into this mess, Bucky, I'm getting you out."

He didn't argue any further. We were going to find Steve, and I was going to make this right.

"One little thing," said Dawn.

"What?" I asked.

"How do you plan on getting all the way to Berlin? It's 11 hours away."

I thought for a minute "We'll rent a car."

"Rates went up last week," said Rigel, "you'll never get one."

I scrunched my eyebrows and thought some more. We had to get to Berlin. We couldn't walk- it would take days.

"Use the jar," said Agam.

I stared at her, shocked. "No."

"Yes," she retorted. "Blaire, you need it."

"We promised never to use it. What if something important comes up for you while we're gone?"

"This is important, Blaire," she said. "Even for us."

Dawn coughed. "Plus, uh, Bucky's kind of wanted for um . . . murder."

"What?" said everyone in the room, except Bucky, who stared at the floor, quiet.

Then I remembered. "Vienna, right." I rubbed my head. "Crap."

Nobody asked any further questions. We all understood it wasn't him.

"Take the jar," encouraged Dawn.

"I'll go alone," Bucky said. "I can't risk you getting caught."

"No, I'm going with you, and I'm taking the jar."

* * *

We were out the door and on our way within ten minutes.

The car rental place was around a fifteen minute walk away from the theater. Everyone commuted on Gondolas or by foot in Venice. Cars were rare. Dawn went in for us, disguised as an old brunette woman. It didn't take her long.

She walked out with the empty jar in her hands.

It was the product of our collaborative hard work. We all had found small jobs at one point, gathering money we agreed not to use in case of an emergency, give or take food expenses. I had us all paint our names on the clear glass, one day. Agam once added a pink ribbon she'd found on the street. It was supposed to be a wonderful memory. Now it was empty.

We'd start over. Tristan went scouting for a job while we rented the car. Fay would find one a week or so after him. We never kept jobs for more than a couple of weeks.

Dawn changed back to herself, rising in height. Her hair changed colour, and grew thicker and longer. She handed me a couple of dollars. "You'll need it for food. Be safe."

I took the money, smiling. "We're acting like I'm never coming back,"

"It's just that you came back only days ago after being gone two weeks, and now you're leaving again. We can't run the place without you."

"I have to do this, Dawn. You know I do, more than anyone," I said, tucking the money away into my jacket pocket. "I'll be back. Take care of everyone, and Winter Bunny."

"I will," she said, handing me the keys.

We walked to the parking lot where the cars were, and I got into the driver's seat. Bucky sat beside me in the passenger side, buckling his seat belt, as we watched Dawn walk away.

"Let's go," I said, adjusting my position.

I placed my hands on the wheel and cleared my throat, staring out the windshield.

"Do you . . . " Bucky started.

"Yes," I cut him off. "I know how to drive."

"Okay . . . "

"Rigel taught me, last year," I said, matter of factly.

"Last year?"

"HYDRA didn't let me off that chair let alone teach me how to drive." I put my foot against the pedal and off we went, to my relief.

I didn't even have a legitimate license, but I could drive without causing an accident, and that was all that mattered.

I wondered if Bucky could drive.

"So, what are we gonna do once we get there?" I asked.

"Find Steve. Get him out of there."

"You'll get in trouble, Bucky." I said, raising my eyebrows.

"I already am," he said.

I stopped at a crossing. "We can plead your case," I said, turning, keeping on the small, low key roads.

"There is no case. They're ordered to kill on sight."

I sighed. "We need a plan, Bucky. We can't just stroll on in there, wherever it is, and bust Cap out."

I stopped the car. "Wait, what if this is a trap? A lure for you?"

"We have to take the chance," he said, as if he had already thought it out.

I started the car, again, sighing. "Can you check for a map?"

Bucky pulled down the sun shield and a mall fell into his lap. He opened it and stared at it for a moment. "Keep going straight ahead," he said, tracing his metal finger over the paper.

We drove for a couple of hours, as fast as we could. I turned on the radio.

Bucky furrowed his eyebrows. "Is this your music?"

"Oh yeah," I laughed. "Welcome to the future."

Bucky gazed out the window. He smiled, then turned the volume up.

After another hour or so, once the sun was set low, beginning its gradual descend behind the horizon, I suggested we buy something to eat. Bucky agreed.

The first restaurant we saw was McDonald's. We chose to go through the drive through, and sat in the parking lot while we ate our happy meals.

Luckily for us, the windows of the car were tinted, so we ate leisurely, without worrying someone would spot us.

"What's this?" Bucky asked, pulling out a packaged toy from his box.

"Judy Hopps! Lucky. Rigel's been trying to get one of those for a month, now. It's from that movie, Zootopia. You should watch it."

"Why did he want this?" Bucky said, scrutinizing the toy, not understanding what could be so special about it.

I swung my legs onto the dash. "It's just something he does to pass time, to keep his mind off of things. We all have something we do like that."

I popped a bunch of fries into my mouth.

"What do you do?" said Bucky.

I spoke through a mouthful of food. "Well, currently, I'm trying to help you find Steve."

"Besides that?" he asked, turning to face me.

I chewed in the fries for a while, thinking. "I dunno. It's been so long. I was in Romania for two weeks and all I had on my mind then was survival. Before that, I stayed in the theater, looking for others, helping build the place up. I guess I haven't really caught a break."

Bucky smiled. "You help others. That's what keeps your mind off things."

"I guess, yeah." My thoughts raced back to the days I found Dawn, Agam, Rigel, and Tristan. We only started rotating, taking turns a couple of months ago. Before that, I always went out alone to find others like us.

I let out a deep breath. "It's just . . . I want to redeem myself, I have to. I need to die more than just HYDRA's experiment. I can't do that without helping others affected by the same thing."

"You already have,"

"It's not enough," I tilted my head back onto the headrest. "I'm a firm believer of Karma. And yes, Karma can kick you in the butt, but only if you let it. I can't let things get any worse than they are. What HYDRA gave me, intentionally or not, I want to use it for something good. I want to be the opposite of what they intended me to be."

"How do you have so much hope?" he asked me.

"I have to, I can't go on without it." I looked him in the eye. "I do lose it, sometimes. It's not stagnant. But knowing that there are still people under HYDRA's control, innocent people, it angers me. It kinda brings that hope back. I dunno."

There was silence.

"How long did they have you for?"

"Thirteen years." I swallowed hard. "They got me when I was eight. I got out a year and a half ago. September."

"Shit," is all he said.

"It's okay," I said, knowing he probably felt sorry for me. "I wouldn't have had that great of a childhood, anyways."

"Did you . . . ever see your brother again?"

"No. I don't want to, either."

"Sorry."

"Don't be," I said, shrugging. "Are you done eating?"

"Yeah," he said, handing me the red box.

I opened the window and tossed our boxes into a garbage bin, and drove off.

The sun had settled behind the tinted clouds by then. The wind rushed through dancing trees, and Venice stood in the background, peeking at us from behind the hills and roads.

I drove for the rest of the day, following the small roads outlined on the map. Bucky fell asleep, and stayed asleep until I parked the car in a corner of a parking lot a couple of hours later.

"Go back to sleep," I said, pulling my legs under me. "We'll continue in the morning. It's only another four hours to go." I turned the engine off.

I closed my eyes, the only sound Bucky's deep breathing as he instantly fell back to sleep. I fell asleep thinking about how much my life changed in the past few days. It was all Bucky. And it was a good thing. As sorry as I was that he was in this mess, I was glad that I knew him personally. He sort of made things a little better, in a way. His mere presence made me feel good. It was a weird feeling.

* * *

I was expecting a disturbance in the night, someone who'd yell at us to move the car, but nobody did.

When I awoke, Bucky was still sound asleep, even though people were hustling around outside, and the sun was high in the sky.

I didn't wake him. He looked at ease. There weren't stress lines marking his forehead, or creases along his mouth. His lips even formed a slight smile.

I drove the car to McDonald's and ordered us both breakfast, instead.

He awoke by himself, staring around for a moment, confused. "I smelled food," he said.

I laughed out loud, fries still in my mouth, and handed him his food. He thanked me and dove into the burger and fries.

While he ate, I continued our drive towards Berlin. For the next four hours, we listened to the radio. There wasn't much talking, and we both seemed okay with that.

When we finally arrived in Berlin, it was pretty obvious where Cap was being held. If the giant trucks and armed security guards didn't give it away, the huge crowds holding signs and dressed in Captain America merchandise definitely did.

I parked the car two blocks away and got out.

"So what's the plan?" I asked Bucky.

"We get inside. Find Steve. Bust him out."

I stared at him. "I already told you, that's a terrible plan!"

"They're only holding Steve in there, because he was trying to help me escape back in Romania. If we can't bust him out, I'll surrender."

"You're not turning yourself in, Bucky, that's stupid."

"People need Steve. He's Captain America."

"People need you too, Bucky. I know I do." I coughed awkwardly. "Fine, I'll go inside, first. You stay here." I pointed my finger at him. "Don't you dare surrender. I'll see if I can negotiate something?"

"Negotiate something?"

"Oh, you know, mess up the paperwork, turn off the security locks, shut down the system, stuff like that. It'll be easy."

This time Bucky stared at me.

"Just stay here," I said, taking a deep breath and going invisible.

I turned the corner and joined a group of spiffy dressed men and women. Apparently they were all headed towards the same building I was.

Getting inside wasn't hard. Nobody saw me slip through. Finding the floor Steve was on wasn't hard either.

I stood in the lobby, staring up at the railing to the floor with the most commotion. I wiped my nose clean of blood, then pressed the button to summon the elevator.

A glass elevator door slid open, and I walked in. As it closed, a drop of my nose blood fell to the floor, but it stayed invisible. "That's . . . peculiar," I said, staring at the clear glass floor.

Through the glass, I saw three dozen armed cops dash through the lobby door, where they surrounded a long haired man in a red shirt. Bucky.

I swore.

Then, the glass doors opened, and in walked a grey-suited Everett Ross. 

 

*


End file.
